Columnist Joline Gutierrez Krueger wrote about the heroin epidemic for years—then the story came home

ALBUQUERQUE, N. M.—Joline Gutierrez Krueger was with her youngest son at the dentist when Devin, her oldest, called to remind her to buy cat litter. “Love you,” he said, before hanging up.

It was March 8, a day that would split her life into before and after. Ms. Krueger, 60 years old, was a single mother who rode the ups and downs of raising six children yet had much to be grateful for: a house, a family and a career as a columnist for New Mexico’s largest newspaper.